Thoughts

[spinecho303]

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Hi guys,

I'm new to the medical world, but I've been debating a significant career change. I've been out of school for 2 years, and I'm a licensed CPA and i work for a big 4 accounting firm. After some frustration, however, I'd like to do something more meaningful with my life and get out of corporate america while I still can. My dad is a doctor, and I never considered medicine while in ugrad, but after being in corporate america, i've just had enough of it...im done.

I am planning on enrolling @ northwestern in their post-bac program, my good friend is a TA there. My UGrad GPA was 3.6-3.7 / accounting....but I took 1 bio couse my freshman year....and I got a BC (aka 2.5) in the course. It was one of those 1st semester freshman year issues where I got A's on the first 2 tests then I switched into the college of business and stopped trying...is this factored in your science GPA? I'd assume it is.

I'm planning on taking Bio 1, Chem 1, and Physics 1 @ northwestern this fall, and enrolling in their post-bac by the summer. My friend basically said they let anyone if if your willing to pay, and anyone can just be a catch-all 'student-at-large' until you do the official post-bac stuff...post-bacs seems kinda meaningless, but it'd be nice to have some sort of loose affiliation i feel.

If I retake bio this late in the game, does that average out with my first bio attempt? Or do they only look at your first one?. I had a very high upward trend towards the end of ugrad, and I'd anticipate getting a 3.5-3.7 in the program.

Do you think i'd be a competitive applicant? and would my prior work credentials help me? I'd like to shoot for the Rush/Loyola/UICs of the world

 

[mspeedwagon]

Welcome to the board... it's going to be a long ride. Unfortunately your 2.5 will count as part of your GPA, but at least it is only one course, and it sounds like it was a while ago. Not much you can do about it at this point; I'd just move forward. I would only re-take if you are thinking about D.O. schools which replace grades (M.D. schools average them).

Taking biology, chemistry and physics together to start seems like a lot to me. Especially after being out of school for a little while. I'd hold-off on one of those (probably biology) until you establish you are getting As in the classes. Taking a lot of courses together and doing badly will force you to work on repairing your GPA rather than doing it right.

I think with a good GPA, good MCAT and your experience you'll be a great applicant. And luckily for you, UIC has a ton of seats they need to fill (granted, they have a lot of applicants).

 

[spinecho303]

Thanks for your thoughts, the only reason I'm suggesting to retake bio though too is because the only prereq is bio 1 w/ a B or better within the last 5 years @ northwestern...so it may force my hand to do that. Perhaps ill just ease into it and take Bio 1 and Chem 1.

 

[spinecho303]

oh...i was looking at prereqs as well, should I plan on taking calc? I've noticed some medical schools want it or some programs don't...how should I approach this? and, is it considered a science class?

 

[digitlnoize]

oh...i was looking at prereqs as well, should I plan on taking calc? I've noticed some medical schools want it or some programs don't...how should I approach this? and, is it considered a science class?

Very few programs require Calc. If you get a copy of the MSAR book, it will tell you which ones (I think there's only 2 or 3 in the country...)

Personally, I never took calc, but took statistics instead and have found it MUCH more useful than my calc loving friends. There are tons of stats in medical journals and stats questions do appear on board exams. Calc questions don't. Just my 2 cents.

 

[spinecho303]

I was trolling these forums, but I also have a specific request, would 'Business Stats' this be included in my BCPM gpa?

Would it be considered 'applied mathmatics'?...but it was offered through the management dept at my old university, not through the math dept. Official Title was like 'MANA 35 Business Stats'

 

[mspeedwagon]

Yes, it will be included in your BPCM. A math class in any department (psych, soc, business) counts.

I was trolling these forums, but I also have a specific request, would 'Business Stats' this be included in my BCPM gpa?

Would it be considered 'applied mathmatics'?...but it was offered through the management dept at my old university, not through the math dept. Official Title was like 'MANA 35 Business Stats'

 

[spinecho303]

I'm just amateur hour over here...(all these questions), but I studied abroad post-college and these grades didn't count towards my overall GPA (ie, as far as my ugrad institution is concerned), does the AAMC count them in their total? Also, for Cumulative GPA, does it keep rolling on, say after you are done? Or does that factor in UGrad GPA only.

For Law School I know, the only grades that count are ones that counted towards your diploma. I say this because post-graduation, I took 9 credits abroad to hit 150 total credits to sit for the CPA exam.

**Edit - Also, would my post-bac scores also factor into my CGPA?

 

[mspeedwagon]

I do not know the answer to the study abroad question (it's not something I have dealt with personally).

All courses, including taken post-graduation, will factor into your cGPA (you have a separate undergrad and grad GPA; so if they were graduate level courses they would factor into a separate gpa (though it doesn't sounds like this was the case).

I'm just amateur hour over here...(all these questions), but I studied abroad post-college and these grades didn't count towards my overall GPA (ie, as far as my ugrad institution is concerned), does the AAMC count them in their total? Also, for Cumulative GPA, does it keep rolling on, say after you are done? Or does that factor in UGrad GPA only.

For Law School I know, the only grades that count are ones that counted towards your diploma. I say this because post-graduation, I took 9 credits abroad to hit 150 total credits to sit for the CPA exam.

**Edit - Also, would my post-bac scores also factor into my CGPA?

 

[spinecho303]

Ah thanks mspeedwagon. I'll keep doing some trolling, maybe dig some stuff up